"Who are you talking about?" Crow asked, hoping to catch them off guard.

"A friend," Mel replied calmly. "We were supposed to meet him in-game, but we didn't see him."

"There should be many spawn points around the city. Why didn't you look around for him?" Crow tried to keep his voice neutral, which was not so difficult when his mind felt like it was made of something similar to the sludge-things that were still creeping around behind him.

"He should have entered the same node we did," Thomas said quickly. He lifted a hand as if to continue the explanation, but lowered it again and relaxed visibly. "Never mind him," he said with a little laugh. "Let's rest and figure out that new spell of yours instead."

Node? That was not a word an ordinary person would use, and Thomas had seemed oblivious to most of the technicalities, but Crow just nodded and told them what he had found about so far. He had just intended to give a brief explanation, but soon they had him working with it again. No, he couldn't make little holes in it. Yes, he could open it like a sheet. Somewhat. He could let it drift away from him but it was difficult to maintain control.

"That's enough," Crow said eventually. He had a headache coming on. It was draining to maintain the barrier, as they had decided to call it.

It was getting darker, the shadows from the nearby trees lengthening. Loran and George made their way toward them, carefully avoiding splotches of slime were they had been destroyed. Loran still carried the spear that they had been so successful with, but it was in a sorry state after having been thumped into the ground so many times.

As they drew near, George said, "look at this," and opened a slimy hand to show them.

There were a number of tiny stones there. Or not stones. Fragments. Like shards of broken glass. They glowed slightly in a bluish color.

"We found them inside the slime," Loran stated unnecessarily. "I bet that is what the stranger picked up. He knew about it."

"Are they really valuable?" Mel asked. "They don't look like much."

"They have to be if he picked them up," Loran said defensively. "We should try and sell them."

"If we can even find an NPC," Crow said. He still believed there must have been some error, or rather, he knew there was some error since he couldn't log out, otherwise he would have by now. He was exhausted enough. He cursed himself for letting himself go so far. He had been far more athletic not so long ago - until he had lost everything there was. Everything except the immersion chamber.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"I think we should leave them," Thomas said. "Maybe they need those shards," he said, gesturing vaguely toward the slimes, but he didn't sound convincing.

"We need to get back before it's dark," Crow said. I don't want something to jump me while I'm sleeping. Not that the city walls had inspired feelings of safety.

"But there is more," Loran said triumphantly. We went to the top of the other side, he said and nodded toward the side as if they had made a tremendous journey. "We saw a shoe-print there."

"So, someone with shoes," Crow said. "Then we know who we are dealing with."

"No need to be snarky," Loran said. "Someone is following us. And the pattern was all wrong."

"All the more reason to go back then," Crow responded. They hadn't leveled nearly as much as he had hoped, but he was too tired to continue, especially in the dark. His leg was still hurting, but the pain was starting to recede. Thomas hadn't even slowed down a step when he had been hit, the bastard.

"We better be careful then," Loran said and started back toward the treeline.

Which reminded Crow that he hadn't gotten an answer from Thomas and Mel. He didn't care to pursue it now though.

They followed the winding river through the brush, but much slower this time, and in near complete silence, which made Crow more aware of all the strange noises which came from the brush. Bugs, he hoped. He didn't care to get jumped by something right now.

There were few incidents though, and soon they could see the gray walls the city again, which looked more impressive from a distance where several segments of unbroken wall were visible. Crow cast a few uneasy glances to the left and right as they exited the forest. He was still of the opinion that playing with 100% pain threshold was just foolish. Well, at least they had made it back safely, and his thigh was mostly numb now, which was infinitely better than before.

They made it through the same opening in the wall and soon found themselves back at the place at the river where Thomas had planted a stick in the ground.

"Time for some snares anyways, mate?" Thomas said with a smile.

"Fire and shelter is more important, but go ahead if you want to," Crow replied. They didn't have a knife to carve anything with, so he wasn't even sure they would succeed. Survival games were only fun the first time around - few tried again.

"I want to see what the others are doing," Mel said.

"Probably looking for shelter," Crow said. "It's getting dark." He had found a nice rock rest on, and wasn't moving for anything.

Just then, a voice called out to them and a slender young woman came running toward them. "I'm here to warn everyone," she said when she arrived. "Someone just died. We can die in this game."

Crow's first reaction was that it was a joke, but something in her voice and expression made him doubt it. "What do you mean? Didn't they respawn?" Perhaps this was a way out.

"No, he didn't," she said in a voice that sounded as if she verged on tears. "His corpse is still there."